1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method to control a powertrain of a vehicle, and in particular powertrain control during vehicle deceleration.
2. Background of the Invention
Transmissions are known that have over-running, or one-way clutches. In some applications, these clutches are used to enable certain types of vehicle shifts such as so-called non-synchronous gear changes. In some cases, the transmission input speed is less than the synchronous speed of the selected gear during situations in which the clutch is over-running. To prevent such situations, an electric motor, coupled to the transmission through a torque synthesizing/distributing unit, is used to maintain the gear input speed at or near the synchronous speed. The torque synthesizing/distributing unit is an additional unit that has planetary gear sets and several clutches. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,699.
The inventors herein have recognized a disadvantage with the above approach. In particular, such a method uses an electric motor, which is not available on the majority of mass production vehicles. Adding such a motor can be a significant additional cost to the customer. Further, the above method also uses an additional torque synthesizing/distributing unit. This additional device adds further to the cost of the vehicle.